Efficient Plant June 2021 - 4

column | editorial
Factor "
People into
Your Digital
Transformation
Gary L. Parr
Editorial Director
T
ECHNOLOGY IS AN
enabler, not a silver bullet. "
That statement by Mark
Barnes in his article on p. 20, stopped
me in my tracks. We get so caught up
in digital-transformation technology
these days that I think we forget to
keep it in its place.
There is no argument that IIoT/
digital transformation is game-changing
technology, particularly from a
maintenance/reliability perspective.
We talk so much about the sensors,
edge computing, cloud storage/computing,
mobile access, data analysis,
digital twins, and on and on, that we
tend to forget that there are real people
in the middle of the equation. It's
those people who are enabled by the
technology.
If we don't include the people factor,
the data just sits there like it did when
we were talking about big data and all
of its potential and then realized that
we weren't using the data and, in most
cases, didn't even know what data to
use to effect change/improvement.
As Mark Barnes points out,
" enable " is the operative word. The
technology puts the information in the
hands of the people. If they don't act
on it, it's still just numbers. In other
words, little of this matters without
people.
An argument can be made, " I have
Without informed, engaged people, digital
transformation is just a bunch of numbers.
4 | EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
the people. They're trained and experienced.
Is the technology worth the
time and investment? " Absolutely.
Because it allows your trained people
to make better decisions, work more
efficiently, and operate proactively
rather than reactively. From a management
perspective, your company realizes
much more return for the investment
in employee skills and training.
From the maintenance-professional
perspective, the work environment
is much improved because the helter
skelter, it's-broke-fix-it-fast workstyle
is replaced by a much calmer, better
organized world of staying ahead of
the game, keeping inventory under
control, and only having to deal with
the occasional anomaly crisis.
There's another critical factor.
It comes up throughout the article
about establishing a reliable electrical
system, written by Chip Angus (p. 16).
That factor is communication and the
importance of working to keep people
informed of decisions and plans.
Attached to communication's
hip is culture. None of this digitaltransformation
movement will be
successful on a long-term basis if you
don't change your culture. People
need to be able to work in an environment
in which they are informed
and feel free to offer input. By input, I
mean that their suggestions are given
serious consideration, no matter what
their level in the chain of command.
Couple a collaborative culture with
carefully planned and implemented
digital-transformation technology, and
your organization will find itself firmly
in the fast lane toward Top Quartile
performance.
Put this quote from Dr. Klaus M.
Blache on your bulletin board: " We
are good at technologies but fail at
implementation. Technology success,
from conception to implementation,
is mainly a human endeavor. Your
technology-implementation decisions
should be driven by human considerations. "
EP
gparr@efficientplantmag.com
JUNE 2021
http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
Efficient Plant June 2021

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